Friars Land a JUCO Big Man For Next Year

Next year’s Friar team just got a little more experienced with the verbal commitment of Russ Permenter, a 6-9 JUCO big man from Temple, Texas. Permenter sat behind the bench during Saturday night’s Rutgers game, and gave his verbal before flying back home.

Permenter went to Texas-San Antonio out of high school, and transferred to Temple College for his sophomore year.

(photo by tdtnews.com)

This is huge for the Friars since they are losing 5 seniors after this season, including forwards Geoff McDermott, Jonathan Kale, and Randall Hanke. They will have a lot of young talent in their frontcourt, with Bilal Dixon and Jamine “Greedy” Peterson coming off redshirt years, and James Still and Kadeem Batts as incoming freshman. Permenter will hopefully be able to contribute right away while the young guys get up to speed.

“His numbers have been what I expected,” Johnson said. “He has 72 blocks for the season, which is the most already that we’ve ever had anybody have, and he has a shot at getting to 100. Russ has helped us immensely because he’s big and he can run.”